How to become a bike mechanic?

lol@ evans incompetence

yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. i'm not having a go at all of evans though, they do have some good staff. it's just down to luck i guess.
the best chain shop i found is the cycle surgery in camden. the people in there are friendly, clued up, and helpful.

you can volunteer at the recycle bike workshop in Walthamstow that i mentioned last week, they teach you to rebuild / recycle the bikes that are donated. its run by the coucil, they are often requesting volunteers: more info: call Gina Harkwell 0208 496 3000

on a plate for you

Try volunteering at a bike co-op

what is a bike co-op? is it any shop that isn't a chain? or is there some other specification?

Putney Cycles are lo0king for a predominantly sales person

nah - i really want to start at the mechanical level; just emerse myself in mechanising, y'ken?
(+i live in stoke newington, and so i'd probably appreciate an easier commute every morn!)

you can volunteer at the recycle bike workshop in Walthamstow that i mentioned last week, they teach you to rebuild / recycle the bikes that are donated. its run by the coucil, they are often requesting volunteers: more info: call Gina Harkwell 0208 496 3000

on a plate for you

yeah - i've had a look at these guys on t' internet

• i may be doing something similar with the bikes4africa project as my matey works with them

• looks to me that knowledge is key (tis a rhyme! but not so good on t' time), and that any and all knowledge i can pick up before going for a job is key to my future success. i plan to be reading up on the Zinn books, as well as the Sheldon and park tool sites
  also, cycling forums recommended reading a few John Barnett books as well - any recommendations for him?

• cheers all for the plethora of advice

give me a job. i am being evicted in September and have to move. i've got real experience. the only stuff i can't do is bend derailuer hangers, frames and forks and tighten front axels before i ride.

I feel a new acronym coming on Tynan! So that's: RSBL

Sounds good to me.

"I put the RSBL after he got an OSCC when he posted his HHSB."

"HHSB."

just out of interest, and a wish to better my knowledge, does hhsb stand for hip hop slave bike? or is that just another interpretation of a pre formed acronym?

cheers

Yep, it does.

Hey there FrankMG you should give this lot a try http://www.atg-training.co.uk/ . Thats where I done my training and you end up with an NVQ at the end of it. Good luck. Any questions you can PM me I'll be happy to help you out if I can.

How are you getting on FrankMG, 7 months on?

a) Marry a bike mechanic
b) Become lovers with a bike mechanic
c) Work in a bike shop for free, learning and observing the mechanic's work
d) Go to the pub, get drunk, tell everyone that you're a top notch mechanic

I find it really difficult to set up dual pivot road-brakes. No idea why. Might invest in one of those caliper adjusters from PBK...

I can do pretty much everything else but isn't the majority of it common sense?

Depends on how common you are.

The mechanics of a bike is easy.

The difference is a really good bike mechanic will know all the specs for all the different group sets, be able to identify many to the year just by the fact that "this year has a cut out here, and a slightly different bend there", they know all the common hacks / work arounds, they know what years had weaknesses e.t.c Thats the knowledge that shows experience and dedication.

The mechanics of a bike is easy.

The difference is a really good bike mechanic will know all the specs for all the different group sets, be able to identify many to the year just by the fact that "this year has a cut out here, and a slightly different bend there", they know all the common hacks / work arounds, they know what years had weaknesses e.t.c Thats the knowledge that shows experience and dedication.

+1

True bike mechanics are a special breed. It requires decades of dedication, enthusiasm and painstaking attention to detail. With very little reward.

The best bike mechanics are the really old fellas who know the past 80 years of component history in and out.

They can install & fine tune gears in a few minutes, even if they are basic bottom end sis found on £40 mtbs. they wont frown upon you, they will make it work and charge you a friendly price.

They have a back room of projects like home made tandems & recumbents. They know how to solder custom brake cabling and improvise custom fixtures as necessary.

They can effortlessly strip and rehaul hub gears, and have crates full of spare parts.

They also know how to fit pram wheel tyres, like those you find on penny farthings.

Aswell as being able to efficently service & tune hydraulic forks and brakes.

They are indeed a rare & special breed.

Did we do this one already? Yes? No? Fuckit. It was emailed to me today from Ama-Iamshitatsuggestingnewstuff-zon.

+1

True bike mechanics are a special breed. It requires decades of dedication, enthusiasm and painstaking attention to detail. With very little reward.

The best bike mechanics are the really old fellas who know the past 80 years of component history in and out.

They can install & fine tune gears in a few minutes, even if they are basic bottom end sis found on £40 mtbs. they wont frown upon you, they will make it work and charge you a friendly price.

They have a back room of projects like home made tandems & recumbents. They know how to solder custom brake cabling and improvise custom fixtures as necessary.

They can effortlessly strip and rehaul hub gears, and have crates full of spare parts.

They also know how to fit pram wheel tyres, like those you find on penny farthings.

Aswell as being able to efficently service & tune hydraulic forks and brakes.

They are indeed a rare & special breed.

+1 I had a problem changing the cassette on my old bike, took it to a LBS whose bike mechanic failed, swore at the bike and cut his hand trying to take it off. so I then took it to some guy a mate new, this 80 year old dude who used a couple of chain whips that were probably older than me and had the cassette off in 2 mins.

+1

True bike mechanics are a special breed. It requires decades of dedication, enthusiasm and painstaking attention to detail. With very little reward.

The best bike mechanics are the really old fellas who know the past 80 years of component history in and out.

They can install & fine tune gears in a few minutes, even if they are basic bottom end sis found on £40 mtbs. they wont frown upon you, they will make it work and charge you a friendly price.

They have a back room of projects like home made tandems & recumbents. They know how to solder custom brake cabling and improvise custom fixtures as necessary.

They can effortlessly strip and rehaul hub gears, and have crates full of spare parts.

They also know how to fit pram wheel tyres, like those you find on penny farthings.

Aswell as being able to efficently service & tune hydraulic forks and brakes.

They are indeed a rare & special breed.

Where are these guys, sat up a mountain somewhere I guess?

I've never met any, I usually know more than the people working in the shop (comes from being obsessed with bikes since I was 5 (now 40).

i was looking into it myself and just googled cycle mechanic training. ATm has already been mentioned, there is a place in canterbury and one oooop north near lincoln i think. they seem to go from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, you would also need accomodation. i think the one in canterbury does a deal on tools as well. the coop in edinburgh also does maintenance courses. sorry can't recall all details, try google and if you get stuck i will try and dig something out.

Sometimes i love it, other times i hate it..

Can get boring and repetitive, sometimes you need an old 1960s SA hub service just to liven things up. All depends on who else is around you as well. Makes a fair bit of difference who else is in the workshop that you can sponge off.

Pay is terrible... fact. No matter where you go you will just about be scraping by. But then again, you can get heavy discounts on bikes and parts, clothing etc which does make up for it.

Most of the time you are dealing with people that have way too much money and not enough time.. they expect the bike shop to be run like an office... but when most of the workers are enthusiasts and not necessarily professionals, it doesn't quite work that way.
There is also the flip side of the coin.. a lot of people think that spending money on bicycles is a waste of time. Most people should expect to pay about £100-£150 for every year the bike is on the road since new. Factoring in new tyres, transmission, labour etc. But most people find this to be rediculous and get pissed off when the bike isn't running as smooth as it once was, even though it is caked in shit with about 2 rollers on the chain still intact and 5 teeth left on the entire 11-28 cassette.

A lot of people that bring in bikes to be repaired are not cyclists. just commuters.

Just realised i am ranting..

Would i do anything different, probably not. i do enjoy working on bikes. I like the challenges that they can bring.

so erm yeh.. carry on

I was thinking of buying Zinn myself, but you might like to know it is being reprinted in a few months. Not sure what difference this will make in terms of content, but it might make the existing prints cheaper?

True bike mechanics are a special breed. It requires decades of dedication, enthusiasm and painstaking attention to detail. With very little reward.

The best bike mechanics are the really old fellas who know the past 80 years of component history in and out.

They can install & fine tune gears in a few minutes, even if they are basic bottom end sis found on £40 mtbs. they wont frown upon you, they will make it work and charge you a friendly price.

They have a back room of projects like home made tandems & recumbents. They know how to solder custom brake cabling and improvise custom fixtures as necessary.

They can effortlessly strip and rehaul hub gears, and have crates full of spare parts.

They also know how to fit pram wheel tyres, like those you find on penny farthings.

Aswell as being able to efficently service & tune hydraulic forks and brakes.

They are indeed a rare & special breed.

reading this made me really happy. good post

getting a trainee position in a bike shop is easiest in the spring - often bike shops are looking for summer staff but if you can't commit to the whole summer & want time off they might pick someone who can give that level of commitment - training is supported by the government with ATG/Cytech again for employees who are going to stay & make the investment pay off.
working on your own bike & help from more experienced mechanics (the LCC free d-i-y workshops are good for this) is a good start

A bike mechanic once told me that being a mechanic is a bit like being a gynacologist. Seems like a great job but in actual fact most of the equipment you are working on is old and past its best.

A bike mechanic once told me that being a mechanic is a bit like being a gynacologist. Seems like a great job but in actual fact most of the equipment you are working on is old and past its best.

It's bit better than that. As you can get the hose out, clean the muck off then get straight down to business.

But surely being a mechanic one has to realise, the majority of work won't be on top end equipment.